Departmental Advertising

Wednesday, 7 February 2024

Questions (272)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

272. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount spent on traditional and online advertising by his Department in each of the past ten years and to date in 2024, in tabular form. [5352/24]

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Written answers

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage

The information requested is being compiled and will be forwarded in accordance with Standing Orders.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51

Press and public relations functions are generally undertaken by my Department's Press Office and my Department undertakes public information campaigns where there is important information to be brought to the public’s attention. The advertising campaigns generally comprise traditional advertising methods including TV, radio, online and print as well as social media. The ad expenditure for last year includes:

• the “Doors Open”; a significant print, broadcast, digital and outdoors campaign to communicate the number of supports available for people to rent or buy a home;

• an information campaign to highlight financial support to replace lead pipes in homes;

• the ‘Check the Register’ campaign and;

• the ‘Check Before You Dig’ campaign urging landowners to avoid damaging or disturbing archaeological monuments during any groundworks (including land clearance or reclamation)

In addition, my Department’s National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management runs regular, very important public health and safety campaigns such as National Fire Safety Week.

The figures for expenditure also include money spent on recruitment as well as both Met Éireann and our National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) advertising spends. The NPWS advertises information on its National Parks for visitors throughout the year.

Spending to date this year includes the “Your Council” campaign which was launched to provide members of the public with more information about local government and the role of the Councillor. The advertising initiative gives an overview of the different responsibilities of local government and the key role played by Councillors in shaping communities.

Details of the expenditure by my Department on various public relations, promotions and advertising activities since 1 January 2014 to date are set out in the following table.

Year	Total
2014	€559,844
2015	€461,408
2016	€456,753
2017	€485,425
2018	€381,302
2019	€476,495
2020	€391,790
2021	€641,552
2022	€989,680
2023	€1,647,848
2024 (to date)	€309, 163